American Inventors and Their Inventions
Inventors and their inventions and how they shaped who we are today in America
(Suggestion: Why limit this to only "American" inventions/inventors? Consider the global impact of inventions?)

Driving Questions:
  • Which inventions in the (19th and 20th)? centuries helped to shape and define our society in the 21st century?
  • What were the events that lead to those inventions?
  • Who were the inventors?
  • What were the circumstances that enabled the inventors to invent their inventions?
  • How did the inventions change the society during the time of the invention?
  • Describe how the original invention has been changed, adapted, modified, re-created and what has it grown into?
  • How do these inventions impact our lives today?

Objectives:
  • Students will select inventions to research.
  • Students will explain the impact that these inventions had upon individuals and society in the past as well as in the present.
  • How has the invention changed and become modernized over time?
  • Research what "society", "culture" was like back during the time of the invention.
  • Research the process involved in applying for and securing a Patent.
  • Invite "inventors" from the community in to discuss their experiences.
  • Culminating activity could be an Invention Academy Awards Ceremony for the most "impactful" and significant invention of the 21st Century.

Project aims:
  • Research inventions.
  • Explain impact of inventions on individuals and society.
  • Build a model of the invention.

Examples:
  • Steam Engine
  • Airplane - Space Flight
  • Electricity - Solar Voltaics
  • Refrigeration - Cryo-Genetics
  • Cotton Gin
  • Television
  • Radio
  • Internet
  • Computer
  • Ferris Wheel
  • Automobile
  • Movable type/Printing Press
  • Play Dough? It was originally invented as a putty of glue and it did not work-was not patented for this use, however, the inventor's sister was a teacher and suggested that
the inventor add a dye or color to the substance for her students to play with and voila...play dough was born.